Nowadays, travel in Myanmar is gradually becoming one of the most favorite trend in the world because of its magical and pristine beauty.
According to estimated statistics of the tourism industry in Myanmar, the number of tourists coming to this country is expected to grow 150% by 2013 (about 1.5 million foreign tourists). However, tourism infrastructure is shorted severely.
Mr. Quoc Anh (44 years old, Hanoi) said that it was difficult to find accommodation in his Myanmar travel and he took a lot of time to find a suitable place to stay overnight in the resort on the Inle lake.
The price of travel services have increased twice a year
The price to take a taxi from Heho airport to Nyaung Shwe village was also very expensive as well as it is hard to find accommodation in Inle lake.
The hotels here are still shorted and have expensive price. If you have read Myanmar Travel Guide published by Lonely Planet (the most prestigious private publisher in the world who majors in travel) in 2011, you will see that the price for tourist services have increased twice fold comparing to previous years.
Even in the hot weather, there are still more and more tourists coming to Myanmar, especially Inle lake – a favorite destination in this land. According to a travel agency in Vietnam, the price for Myanmar holiday packages has increased about 38% comparing to 2011.
Highly increase in revenue
Basing on the statistics of Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (Myanmar), the tourism industry has given dramatic income for the country in recent years, which increases to 67%, about 534 million USD comparing to 2011 (319 million USD).
Also, according to estimated figures, there are about 1.500 tourists coming to Nyaung Shwe town and Inle lake while there is total of 1.200 rooms at both 45 hotels and guesthouses in the region.
In Bagan, there are also about 600 -1.000 tourists coming every day and there is a total of 2.500 rooms at 80 hotels provided for tourists. Many of backpackers have to stay overnight at several restaurants or monasteries because they can’t book the hotel room.
It is predicted that the number of visitors will continue to increase in the next years. However, tourist services and tourism Infrastructures still have not met the demand of many visitors yet. There is only total of 28.291 rooms at the hotels in the whole country.
Living standard at the level of about 1 USD
Many of Burmese have to accept to live far away from home to earn money. They are mostly women belonging to long – neck tribe in Myanmar. Weaving and sharing some interesting stories with visitors are the works daily of them. However, they only paid 30.000 Kyat (about 33 USD)/ a month equivalent to 1USD/a day. This means many Burmese are still living in the poor condition, although Myanmar travel is very developing nowadays. Ko Lyin (53 years old), a ferryman said that he got 3.000 Kyat (3.3 USD)/ boat tour/10 hours while travel agency got 4.000 Kyat. Also according to Ko Lyin, in the peak season travel, Myanmar always welcomes large tourists and vice versa.
According to statistics of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2011, per capita income in Myanmar is 857 USD / person / year comparing with Cambodia is 900 USD / person / year and Vietnam is 1411 USD / person / year. Especially, Myanmar has been applying open policy recently and expected as the hot destination in the Asia area, in which tourism industry will be a huge impact on the development of the country.
